


Nature of the Business

by queen_scribbles



Series: Straight Up Truth [3]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 01:08:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16007114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles





	Nature of the Business

 

"You need sleep."  
  
Theron didn't look away from the datapad in his hand, but a small smile curved his lips as he countered, "I could say the same to you."  
  
"You could, but we both know it would be less true," Jaaide said lightly, nudging his hand down until he was forced to look away from screen and meet her gaze, "I have that lovely extra week's worth of rest, remember?"  
  
"Yeah," he said dryly, trying not to dwell on it (too much) as he set down the datapad. "I also remember the _reason_ you got all that extra rest. Something along the lines of Arcann ramming his lightsaber through your gut."

The thought of it still turned his stomach, if he was honest, and he was _almost_ glad Lana'd had him half a galaxy away tracking down the former Cipher agent's ship. He wasn't sure what he would've done if he'd been there to watch. Probably nothing smart and everything stupid.  
  
"Theron." Jaaide must've seen or sensed the darkening of his mood (he'd never been good at keeping his guard up around her), as her expression had softened. She no longer looked exasperated at his sleep schedule--or lack thereof--but rather concerned. "I'm fine, I promise." She reached out, took his hands in hers. "If you won't take a nap, will you at least take a _break_? There's a conversation we still need to have..."  
  
Theron fought the urge to wince. She was right; they did need to talk about... _that_ , but he really was awful at relationship stuff. Part of him wanted to put off showing just _how_ awful as long as he possibly could. But at the same time, there was something _different_ about this time. "...Sure, why not?"  
  
Jaaide's shoulders slouched a little, losing the Imperial-parade-posture stiffness, and she smiled in relief. "Alright, then. After you, Agent Shan."  
  
"Oh, no, no," he grinned, squeezing her hands before letting go of one and tugging her to walk next to him. "Side by side, Cipher."  
  
An almost unreadable look flashed across her face, but her smile had barely faltered before it was back in full force. "If you insist."  
  
"I absolutely do."  
  
They made their way to the base's cantina hand in hand.  
  
 **oOoOoOoOoOo**  
  
"So, what did you want to talk about first?" Theron asked, once they had gotten drinks and settled in one of the more secluded booths. "Us, or whatever this other thing was that you had in mind?"  
  
Jaaide made a face and spun her glass absently, watching the cometduster slosh perilously close to the rim. "The latter, I suppose," she finally said. "I want to be honest with you, Theron. Give you _my_ straight up truth. I feel like it's something you should know before we officially become an us."  
  
He'd half-smiled at her use of his own words back on Rishi so long ago, but sobered when he saw how serious she was. "Fire away."  
  
"Did... did you ever work with Ardun Kothe?" This was it. She'd promised _not a soul_ , but that was five years and a galaxy-altering war ago. Imperial- _Sith_ Intelligence, the SIS-- hell, the Empire and Republic were drastically different now. _She_ was drastically different now(granted, falling hard for a _Republic spy_ had not been planned, but still. It had happened, and it changed her).  
  
"Once or twice." Theron's brow knit in confusion. "The SIS liked to limit things to _one_ maverick per operation."  
  
Jaaide managed a short chuckle at the joke before pressing doggedly ahead. "Did you know about his mission to recover the Shadow Arsenal?"   
  
His frown deepened. "Yeah... how did _you_ know about that?"  
  
She told him everything--from being planted in Kothe's cell, the mind control mess, the former Jedi returning later to offer her a way out of an increasingly untenable situation. "He suggested I defect. Work for him instead, inside the Empire in hopes of bringing it down eventually. He'd seen how I held up under long-term undercover work and knew I could handle it. And I... I felt betrayed. Everything I'd done to protect the Empire and my reward for being good at my job was the Sith demanding measures be taken to rob me of my free will. So I accepted. It meant going back, pretending I was still loyal to the people who betrayed me. But dangerous and slow-progressing as that may have been... I slept better. No one knew except Kothe and me. Not even my crew. But even with my lips sealed over a secret that would be the death of me if I was found out, I felt freer than I had... actually since I was hired by Imperial Intelligence. I had an ally, I wasn't alone, I was doing the right thing." She sighed, took a long swallow of her drink. "I wanted to tell you. Stars, I wanted to tell you so bad. I almost did on Rishi. But Kothe said tell no one, so I told no one. Hard as it was."  
  
"I know the feeling," Theron muttered, staring into his drink. He looked up at her, eyes narrowing. "Wait... are you telling me _you_ were his deep cover source in the Empire?"  
  
Jaaide shrugged. "Unless he had another one."  
  
He sighed and shook his head. "Small galaxy... So you weren't Imperial on Rishi?"  
  
"Technically? No. I wasn't. Or on Manaan, or on Rakata Prime. But you know how the Intelligence business works." She toyed with her glass.  
  
"Only too well." Theron ran one hand down his face and rubbed his eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry," Jaaide said, reaching over to squeeze his other hand. She should've waited to tell him. He was so _tired_ , and she went and dropped a bombshell like _that_ on him...  
  
"You don't have anything to apologize for," Theron contradicted, not letting go of her hand when she started to pull back. "It's the nature of the business. Everything you've been through, I feel like _I_ owe _you_ an apology; for not being there as another familiar face when you got thawed out."  
  
"You don't owe me anything," she assured him, voice tilting playful, "except perhaps several dozen backlogged kisses."  
  
He chuckled, slid around the booth so he was next to her. "Really now? How'd you figure that?"  
  
"It _has_ been five years," Jaaide reminded him, eyes gleaming mischievously. "You don't think that adds up to at _least_ a couple dozen?"  
  
"Hmmm, fair point," Theron conceded with a knowing--if slightly tired--grin as he leaned closer. "Guess I better start working some of those off."  
  
She leaned in even closer toward him. "Probably a good idea. If you're sure this is what you want?"  
  
His fingers slid up into her hair, his palm resting against her cheek. "Without a doubt."  
  
Neither of them could say with certainty later who kissed who first. They spent the next several minutes putting a serious dent in that backlog--until Jaaide's comm beeped.  
  
"Son of a Hutt..." she grumbled, trying to catch her breath and glaring briefly at Theron when he smirked. "Yes?"  
  
It was Lana, needing the Alliance Commander to met her in the war room to discuss some thing. "And bring Theron, too, if you can find him."  
  
Jaaide coughed. "Sure. If I see him, I'll make sure he tags along." She closed the call and glanced at him. "Well, back to work, it seems. For both of us."  
  
Theron grinned and stole one last kiss before sliding out of the booth, pulling her after him. "Nature of the business, I’m afraid.  _Commander._ "  


End file.
